34th week (9 months)

hi family

so first off. the post office was closed on Monday (construction or something) so i sent the package today. sorry about that. i would have sent it sooner but. its kind of a pday thing to write letters. and were trying to be obedient to all the rules. so sorry for your running up to the mail box.

wow thats no bueno about zack. i hope he is ok. :( its sucks that he had to go home but its better than staying out there. maybe he will get a second chance? idk when is Brenden going? and is he pumped? that's cool that he goes basically back to were he lived before.

you guys are so lucky that your going to Mexico! is it southern or northern? and will you guys be close to the beach or like a couple of miles away? (look for elder soto) take lots of pictures and write me some cool letters. (plus i like souvenirs) wink

so this week has been fun. on Monday i played ninja destruction with the sisters for pday. because no one else would play with them. plus the rest of the zone was playing basketball. and I'm not really a fan. maybe if i was 6'4 and black.  but that was kind of fun. its kind of awkward to play at first. but i won. just so you know. it helps that im a ninja. then we had a training by the zone leaders. because elk city is basically not doing any work. so the zone leaders had to pretend that the whole zone was struggling but it was just elk city that needed the training.

we did some service this week. and helped one of our investigators put in a pool pump. elder shupe did electrical work before the mish so he helped out alot. i didn't know what i was doing so i was just there for emotional support. her name is sister ford. and she is so close to baptism its not even funny. im guessing within the next month. but really cool. i love bringing souls unto Christ. its like the cats pajamas/ the bees knees.

this other investigator we are pretty sure he is a spy or something. because he does all this cool stuff. and he is like 6'2 and riped. and he speaks like a couple of languages. and he has this big house. but he says he does "flooring" (iwonder if that's code for something)

me and elder Reynolds when on exchanges this week. he is elder neilds new son. so he has only been in the mission for like 3 weeks. its fun to be with him because he doesn't know what to do.  so he just makes up stuff on the door step. nothing set. so he has a easy er time relating to people.

and because they were out of miles we ended up staying three days together instead of just the normal 24 hours. its good to get a new comp some times. and just switch things up. but elder Reynolds snors so i had to sleep out in the hall. not the funnest thing in the world.

on Sunday. we had a bunch of people get up and share there testimony. and this young women got up and bore her testimony on food. it was one of the weirdies testimony's ever. it had nothing to do with the Gospel. the bishop asked her to sit down. and then the next girl gave her testimony on she knows this church is true because we don't have a bouncy house outside. it almost fell apart form there but elder Reynolds got up and saved the day. and bore his testimony on missionary work.

I'm so excited for general conference! you only get four on your mission. and there the best four of your life. because your so full of the spirit. and have your spiritual thinking cap on.

ive finished the book of Mormon again. this is like number 5 on the mish. plus Jesus the Christ by James talmage and the new testament. i love the study time in the morning. you get so much out of the Gospel.

but yea this is BASIC it for this week.

i know that this church is true and the only church with the fullness of the Gospel on the earth. i know that my savior died for me. and that we have a prophet on the earth. i know that the book of Mormon is true. and that it contains the fullness of the Gospel. and that we can become closer to God by following its teachings.

Love your favorite missionary

Elder Clements.

33rd week

Subject: giggle giggle 57 giggle giggle

hi family how's it flowing? like a river or a stream or more like a current in the ocean?

so this week has been kind of uneventful. i don't have allot to say this week. i got your letter. and it sounds like all of the missionary's are doing great. i also got a letter from grandma/ grandpa/ creton. it was a fun letter. i opened it up and all kinds of shamrocks fell out. so i had to vacuum the floor. do you remember the card that grandpa carter had? the one with the butterfly that flew out as soon as you opened it? 

im getting freaking sick of smoking! who ever invented cigarettes needs to be shot and then punched and then shot again. were teaching like six people that smoke. and they don't seem to have the desire to give it up. we have a program the makes you quit in 7 days. but people don't seem to follow it at all. you drink grapefruit juice and use Cinnamon mouth wash as soon as you wake up. and it involves alot of praying and staying away from cigarettes. but people cant even commit for seven days. and they cant get baptized until they quit. so a couple of our baptisms fell though. but we still have two in the next month. one guy is super cool he sky dives and travels all around the world. he has been though heck and back twice. so hes really humble. the other is a lady that wants to read the book of mormon all the way through before she gets baptized. but she is in like 3rd nephi.

alot of people are flaking out on use lately like we tracked into people and they say come back but then you cant end up teaching them for some reason or another. they make up the most ridiculous excuses. like o my dog is barking so you cant come in. and my favorite so far is o i have a baby in a high chair so i cant talk right now. i wish people were more strait up with us. then we wouldn't waist our time if there not even interested. but what ever one day they might. seed planted. hopefully some one reaps what we sow.

ive been taking lots of pictures. and im sending them today so bee looking for them. and also there are two tapes in there that you can listen too. hope you like them.

sounds like you dance was fun. lauren. was he a fun date or no? he looks like a creeper. wink. and how did he answer you to the dance? something about a string and a pop bottle? was it creative or kind  of lame? was he crazy like our family? was he bonkers, off the wall, nuts, completely off his rocker? ill tell you a secret. all the best people are.

i was asking if you typed your own letters dad. because of the smile faces and exclamation points. i just didn't expect it. that's it not that i didnt think you couldn't type. hows the elders quorum there. i forget. are they willing to do stuff. because this ward is not very good at that. how is the home teaching? who are your family's? and who is your fellow home teacher? and who is our home teachers? and do they come alot.

i dont know what to do about the whole not wanting to go on a mission? just tell them that 25 percent of missionarys turn out to be losers but 95 percent of the people that dont go on a mission turn out to be losers. idk it hast to be a personal decision and no one else should make it for you. if your not converted to the Gospel yourself then your not going to convert anybody else. you can leave and come home and not even be converted yourself. you have to be committed before hand. people can tell if your be hypocritical.

anyways i love you all so much im out of time. but i care about each and everyone  of you.

LOve Elder Clemetns

Ps Thanks Nana and Papa for the Money

32nd week

Sent: Mon, Mar 12, 2012 12:30 pm
Subject: i guess you say what can make me feel this way, 57

hi family.

 how is the marsh is it beginning to stink yet? sometimes i miss that smell. (weird right?) i had i dream were i came home and then i woke up mad. because i thought i was home and stuff. (im pretty sure Satan sends thoughts dreams) yes i got the package. and for some reason you all ways know what to send. like we ran out of TP and then i got that package. Do you pray before you send it? IDK

so this week has been going good. elder olinger is letting me write his "sister" (shes just a girl in his branch back home) but she is a beautiful daughter of god! she lives in Hawaii going to BYUH. and im excited for the return letter.

anyways back to business. so this week has gone by good. i took over the area. so i have to plan for the day every night while elder shupe just listens. its hard because he doesn't know the area and i barley know it. so we end up track ting alot. its fun but at the same time it sucks on ice. you meet alot  of interesting people but they mostly don't want to here form you. I'm excited its daylight savings time because you can track at night now. and people aren't like who is this creepstash on my door step. you know that promise that Jesus gives to his apostles. that they shouldn't worry about there food or drink that the Lord would provide for them. man this promise is paying off. like every time it seem like we need something the Lord provides. like we would need to use the restroom. and we would happen to tracked into a member that would let us use the restroom, or i was like 99% parched (name that movie) and so we were going to go back to the apartment. but i said one more door. and this guy talks to us and asked if we would like some bottled water. so we stayed out longer than we would have if the guy would have given us the water.  which led us to find a new investigator. i love the way the Lord works hes so legit!

me and elder shupe get along great. probably better than all my last comps. just as much as elder Curtis if not better. hes just a chill guy. and funny, he just rolls with the punches. hes still new to the mission. like less then 4 months. so he doesn't know how to teach effectively yet. but I'm sure i was the exact same way like a transfer ago. but he try's and that's what counts. we have alot of comp unity. were good friends. the other day we bought Nerf guns. and we have been shooting each other ever since. like i will be in the bathroom and i will come out, and my gun would be on the floor. and i would have to go find him without been shot. its fun. but the only problem is that we both suck at waking up on time! we have 4 alarms set and were trying really hard. but sometimes it gets tough. Ive been praying for help with that. because i know if you are obedient to the rules that's when the miracles happen.

we have been biking alot lately because the weather is so nice. its like 60 everyday. it rained on Sunday and Saturday though.  we don't have that many miles so we have to bike at lest once aday. its mostly to like close stuff like less than 5 miles. its fun to bike but at the same time its no fun. because the wind is all ways blowing against us now matter what direction you seem to go. o this is funny elder Shupe ran over a Opossum with his bike like 3 days ago. (it was already dead)  and it popped as soon as he ran it over. and got all over his tires.

the guy from Iran, were letting him read more of the book of Mormon before he comes back. he said that we wants to wait a while before we come back. so hopefully everything goes OK. i know that the book of Mormon will change his life if he lets it. we had a baptism on Saturday. for two of our investigators. Jada and Malak. and they asked me to baptize them. so i was freakin freaking out (you know me and stress) it was really a special moment. the spirit was just flowing out of the font. one of the best baptisms Ive ever been two. it was bad though because at first we could get the doors open to fill the font. so we had this little boy crawl under neath the "accordion doors"  and turn on the water. it was funny. but everything turned out OK. so that makes 4 and 5 for me and baptisms! but first ones i have ever done.

church was all about missionary work and how we need to share the Gospel with our friends and family. and not just plant seeds but reap the seeds that have all ready been planted. sometimes it appears that there not ready and you cant tell. but they said there like carrots. you cant see the fruit of your labors until you pull them up. so just go for it and share the Gospel with some one. hopefully this leads us to get alot of referrals. because that's were the work comes in. is when people share the Gospel with there friends. so that way they all ready have a friend in the church. and they can ask them any questions.

well that's it for this week. i love you all so very much. i like it when you send long emails and letters. because i want to know everything that's going on. it makes it fun. i love all your letters. (dad do you write you letters yourself or does mom or Lauren?)

well i hope everything goes swimmingly

Love your favorite missionary Elder Clements

31st week

i dont know why but this computer is being super slow today it took me twice as long to read your emails. your guys emails was super long today. i like that alot. dont worry im a fast typer so i can read and type all in the allotted time.

so this week as been great! monday was super boring. we were supposed to go to the zoo. but we didnt so we ended up playing monopoly (again) and now we cant go to the zoo without special permission. because they split the whole mission up and now its like 7 zones instead of 4. its crazy there is so many leader ship positions out there. (thats probably why they made me senior).

so i wanted to go senior this transfer but i also didnt. because its alot of responsibility watching over someone. (especially a greenie) and because elder olinger left i had to take over the area. elder shupe (shupe dog) is really a swell guy. ilike him alot. hes humble and knows alot about the gospel. plus since we already have that common ground we didnt go thourgh that "awkward week"  he wants to work hard (witch is more than i can say for all the rest of my comps) so we set some awesome transfer goals. and i know we can complete them. we want 6 baptisms this tranfer, and 26 new people coming to church.

on Wednesday i had to stay home and watch elder evans. because they didnt have room for him. so i didnt say good bye to elder damon (my dad) and elder eggbert (my old district leader) maybe we will see each other again one day. but probably not. and because we had nothing to do. we just were throwing a Frisbee  around for like an hour. then it broke. and so we helped some people from Uzbecastan move. it was cool that we got to serve these people. i gave them a book of Mormon. but they said that they had a hard time reading english. but they would try anyways.

OOOOO hold the phone i forgot about what happened on Monday!!!!! so i was feeling a little sick after lunch. but i wasnt worryed about it. my stomach hurt but i thought i could tough it out. then it got worse and worse. my stomach felt like i was being stabbed over and over. and so i laid down. then i had to get up and go to the bathroom. i had the runs for like two hours. "SICK"  stomach felt like crap. then i threw up for like 10 min straight. and then dry heaved for the next six hours! i was up until 3 in the morning. thinking i was going to die. elder olinger took me to the hospital. but sister taylor called just before we got there. and told us that it wasnt needed. (that actually really made us kinda mad, elder olinger was furious) but we think its food poisoning.  but im not sure. anyway's top 3 worst days of my mission.

but now im good.

so we have been working hard and choosing the right. tracking alot. and we ran into this Jehovah witness. (my first one) and he was willing to tell us all about his religion. its freeking nuts. i thought we had some far out doctrine but man these people get some crazy stuff. most of his stuff was good and i could see how they get some converts. but the other part was freeking nuts. like the third of the hosts of heaven chose not to follow the Savior because they saw Eve and how beautiful she was and so they chose to come down to earth to have sex with women. in the form of a man. and there offspring is the giants that are in the old Testament. and the giants that we have today. and satan had accessto heaven until 1912. and now he cant get there anymore. he was a nice guy though. he gave us some delicious chocolate. and offered us some coffee. but we told him its against our religion. and he freaked out. and told us that it wasntin the bible that you couldnt have it. (we told him that weed wasnt in the bible either)

"so thats whats happening around the country, heres whats happening in your neck of the woods."

well i love you all so much and your the best! i did get the persian book of mormon and gave it to that guy. but we havent seen him since because he wants to read it first before we come back.

keep writing me and praying for me. i will see you guys in about 16 months

love Elder Clements